Top right -opaline yellow (golden yellow)
Mid right -normal
Bot left - opaline
Bot right - yellow (may also be opaline)
All should be red-fronted and I now know Rudolph is split for yellow, opaline and cinnamon...brilliant! Other combinations are also possible, I'll have to work them all out.
Opaline reduces the distribution of melanins (dark pigments) and increases the distribution of psittacins (yellows and reds).
Black - feather full of melanin, no psittacin and no structural effects
Blue - melanin in feather modified by structure, no psittacin
Yellow - yellow psittacin in feather, no melanin
Green - melanin in feather modified by structure (i.e. blue) combined with psittacin (i.e. yellow)
Red - red psittacin in feather, no melanin
White - no melanin or psittacin
In the turquosine parakeet patches of green are turned to yellow, giving a pied appearance. The red shoulder patch is changed and can appear on both cocks and hens, sometimes it can be missing on the cock.
Turqs that have red fronts are effectively having the normally coloured yellow feathers turned red, so when added with opaline the red can appear in patches all over. Opaline added to yellow gives the so called golden yellow. Also hens can have full red fronts like the cocks. Opaline can produce some crazy and amazing coloured birds. It is a sex linked mutation and therefore must show in the plumage of hens but can be carried (split) in cocks.
As Rudolph and Goldie have very dense red colouring, I'm expecting a lot of red on these chicks.
Cinnamon is also a sex-linked mutation that reduces melanin to a degree turning all black pigment to brown. As Goldie does not have the cinnamon mutation, the chick must be a hen according to the rules of sex-linked inheritance (see my website).
I was going to keep the red fronted normal cock from the first round, but now I may change my mind....wish I had more space!
I am soooo jealous now!! Congrats! They are like a little nest box full of rainbow :)
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